Let’s address this upfront. Sir Ian McKellan has done a supernaturally awesome job as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations. (Even if McKellan’s had his fill of the role.) Still, the mind can’t help but wonder about what the Lord of the Rings saga would be like if David Bowie were the iconic wizard instead.
Earlier this year, actor and professional hobbit Dominic Monaghan confirmed that Bowie was up for a role in the blockbuster fantasy series and now casting director Amy Hubbard is providing a bit more detail on what the Bowie as LOTR figure idea was. For one, you can put the suggestion he auditioned to bed.
“He was unavailable,” Hubbard explained to The Huffington Post. “It was a very quick conversation with the legendary Chris Andrews at CAA. I do believe that [David Bowie] went over and played for everybody at the Millennium party. That would’ve been New Year’s Eve in the year 1999, which was when the films were being shot. He went over and entertained everybody, but he never auditioned. That’s for sure.”
While no audition took place (COULD YOU IMAGINE), director Peter Jackson did meet with the music legend.
“We approached him,” offered Hubbard. “I’m pretty sure it was Peter Jackson’s idea in the first few weeks that we got going. It was one that he’d always wondered about, and we rang Chris, and [Bowie] was far too busy.”
Oddly enough, now all we can imagine is Bowie joining in the movie’s songs.
(Via The Huffington Post)
